


The Painting of the Local Trinity

by legendsbigandsmall



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, Legends, NOT Religious, Original Mythology, see notes for why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 13:50:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7054384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendsbigandsmall/pseuds/legendsbigandsmall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What do ye wish to steal?” the dragon demanded.  They told zum of the queen and the card game and the bet.  The dragon blinked more and more as zu tried to stay awake throughout the tale.  “I cannot and I will not allow you to steal that which is entrusted to me freely and without opposition,” zu yawned, showcasing his many, many, very large teeth, “But ye were smart and as such we will have a riddle contest.  The one who wins most will win the right to the painting."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Painting of the Local Trinity

**Author's Note:**

> Nogitsune pronouns (gender-neutral): lee/ly/la [he/his/him]
> 
> Dragon pronouns (gender-neutral): zu/zul/zum [he/his/him]
> 
> **Trinity** ( _noun_ ): a term for a group of nogitsune, yeti and strigoi [traditionally only one of each] which live within the same area. The members of a trinity are usually friendly with each other and in centuries gone past would have hunted frequently together, cementing these bonds.

The queen was dying. She had lived a long life and dying was the natural conclusion to such a thing. But still she was dying and that meant there would be a new ruler soon. A new ruler to make laws and lead the army and protect the people and guide the kingdom. Her niece, her heir, a pretty woman with experience and a love of her people. Her niece, her heir, a tactful diplomat with no love for her cousins, the queen’s step-children. Born to a nobleman, the queen’s husband, in a previous marriage; they loved her like their own mother and she them but still only step-children and so not heirs. But still her step-children and that was no good thing in court politics.

She begged her maid to take care of boys, for her husband was dead and could not protect them. The maid did not know what to do and, with the queen only a few days from death’s door, exchanged a unknown favour with the nogitsune for ly wisdom. Lee told the maid to take the boys to an island in the middle of a lake in a kingdom three over where warding would protect them and the locals would take care of them.

Under the pretence of taking the boys away from the quickly maddening mother, the maid quickly took them to the island. The warding was strong and populated by strong warriors who helped them learn how to live on the island. They even taught them how to fight, even the maid. There they lived in peace…

…which, as we all know, will never last long otherwise I wouldn’t be telling you this tale, my dears. After all, what do we all know?

_Never to trust a nogitsune._

Exactly.

Years later, the same nogitsune exchanged the facts of the boys and the late queen’s maid for a cloak of peacock feathers. The new queen was enraged. She was a good queen. She was a reasonable person. She was only truly happy when serving her people. She was a wonderful queen. She had been raised to not like possible challenges to her throne, other heirs, other children. The new queen was a good queen but she was enraged in a way only upbringing can cause. So she paced to stop herself from destroying her furniture. With the help of her witch-adviser, she contacted her cousins and the maid and invited them back to their previous home.

The maid did not wish to go. The boys had been young when she had taken them from their home and did not truly understand the complexities of court, of the new queen, of her rage, of her upbringing – what should have been their upbringing. Neither did the locals, who took the boy’s side in an argument which was not theirs – as people do. The boys, now men, went to visit their cousin and days later, the maid, now an elder, followed them – not willing to leave them alone in the court.

They were received warmly and the maid was treated as an elder noble. The queen ate with them personally that night and much alcohol was drunk which the nurse was against but could not protest. The queen and her cousins stayed drinking while the nurse retired, knowing she could no longer protect her now-grown charges from their regal cousin. The queen and her cousins began to play various card games. More and more alcohol was drunk. Nothing was bet but that soon become boring for the men and the queen smirked into her glass of coloured water. The queen suggested playing for a favour and the men agreed, thinking that it was simple enough. The queen won against the first but lost to the second. She demanded that the older steal the _Golden Trinity_ – a classical painting of the local apex trinity done mostly in differing shades of gold. The second demanded that she give them adequate assistance in doing the deed. The queen grudgingly agreed and sent her favorite guard with them.

The guard warned the men about the danger of the theft – the painting was protected by a dragon, at the behest of the local trinity. The group traveled to the lair of the dragon, underneath a mountain, in an incarnate tunnel system. The group spent a week camping away from the mouth of the system, wondering how they were going to steal the painting. Finally, they decided to use Spotted Sleep, a flower which can put a dragon into a deep sleep when boiled and the steam inhaled. They traveled for many days to collect the flowers they needed and then returned.

They built up a large fire before the mouth of the cave and boiled the flowers in a pot. They took care to make sure that it was all placed in such a way that the wind would blow the steam into the cave naturally. After waiting an hour or so, they tied scarfs around their mouths and noses and entered the cave, doing their best to keep their heads under the steam.

But the group were not so lucky. When they entered the cavern, filled to the brim with gold and silver and all else that glitters and shines, the dragon had not yet fallen asleep and was only dozy. Zu blinked zul eyes, zul eyelids sore in a most unpleasant way as the sudden sleep tried to overtake zum. Zu saw the group of thieves, frozen in fear at being discovered and yawned. Zu wanted to roast them alive but could not find it within zumself to lift his neck as required to breathe the deadly fire.

“What do ye wish to steal?” zu demanded. The guard told zum of the queen and the card game and the bet. The dragon blinked more and more as zu tried to stay awake throughout the tale. “I cannot and I will not allow you to steal that which is entrusted to me freely and without opposition,” zu yawned, showcasing his many, many, very large teeth, “But ye were smart in the use of the Spotted Sleep and as such we will have a riddle contest. The one who wins most will win the right to the painting. I will ask five riddles and ye as a group will ask me five riddles,” and before the group could protest or agree, zu started, “If you drop me I’m sure to crack. Give me a smile and I’ll always smile back. What am I?” “A mirror,” answered the younger brother and the dragon answered “Correct,” and so the younger brother asked his riddle, “What is it that the poor have, the rich need and you die if you eat?” “Nothing,” was the correct answer and the dragon posed zul second riddle, “Feed me and I live. Give me drink and I die. What am I?” “Fire,” was the answer given and confirmed and the guard posed his riddle, “I am older than light, colder than death, impossible to fight, more fleeting than life. What am I?” “Time,” the dragon answered almost immediately and moved onto zul third riddle, “Naught but burning wood, which can fly. What am I?” “An ember,” the older brother answered after some thought and was then allowed to move onto his riddle, “I see worlds rise and fall. I was there before the beginning. I do not know death. I stand alone, always.” “Darkness,” the dragon answered and yawned before asking, “Why can’t one-thousand blackbirds fly?” No answer could be thought of and the dragon smiled as the group moved onto their fourth riddle, “What does an island and the letter T have in common?” The dragon could think of no answer for this and zu stopped smiling in annoyance before asking, “A nightmare for some, for others, a saviour it comes. It is always around but never seen. It is often avoided but you can’t outrun it. It comes in many forms of emotional state, whether it’s irony, love, laughter or hate. What is it?” The group debated among each other and time almost ran out before they answered “Death.” The dragon grumbled to zumself and allowed the group to pose the final riddle. The group thought long and hard. They were tied and if the dragon guessed the answer to the riddle, they would probably never get the painting. Finally, one of the brothers asked, “From the beginning of eternity, to the end of time and space. To the beginning of every end, and the end of every place. What is it?” The dragon thought and grumbled and yawned massively wide and tall and finally conceded defeat and allow the brothers to retrieve the painting which way protected under zul tail. The dragon closed zul eyes and slept, satisfied that the painting had been won under honourable terms.

The group returned to the palace with their prize, taking care to avoid the nogitsune forest on their return, and prepared to present the painting to the queen. However, when they returned, they found the queen had killed the old elder maid in the brother’s absence and had hung her corpse from the walls with spear. In their rage, the brothers slayed the queen and the guard, when he moved to defend her out of duty but in disgust. But they had no interest in ruling and so fled the country. The land fell into despair and, eventually, war and the nogitsune with the favour and the cloak of peacock’s feathers laughed and laughed and laughed at the damage ly painting had caused.

And the dragon? Why, the dragon slept on forever and is probably still sleeping, for the fire never did go out and the water never finished boiling and the steam never stopped flowing. Some days, when the wind takes a different direction, the dragon stirs but then the wind changes back and zu sleeps, as zu has for many, many, many, long years.  
But, at least, the men and their descendants were never bothered with such things for they did not care about the past and all they cared for was the death of the maid which had been avenged. And so while the nogitsune rejoiced and the dragon slept, the men and their descendants lived in peace and harmony, never to know the misfortune they had brought upon the land.


End file.
